The Word of the Day Is “Balance”

Balance is defined by Webster as “an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady.”

It follows that without balance, things fall down or don’t work right—that goes for families, businesses, even kids playing sports. I think about balance a lot. It’s really a passion of mine. So let’s explore the concept a bit.

The Yin and Yang of Sports

Some kids really get into sports—and some parents really get into their kids being in sports. It’s fun, it teaches discipline, and it keeps kids physically healthy. But if kids don’t take time to rest—time to sleep and time for unstructured play—they won’t have fun and they won’t stay healthy. In fact, kids can injure themselves by pushing their growing bodies too hard. You don’t get great results, in youth sports or in anything else, by focusing on one thing and forgetting everything else. You get great results by living a great life. And that means balance.

Learning to Rest

Some people—maybe especially those in business—have to learnto rest. The natural inclination for someone who’s competitive is to out-work your opponent. That’s good, to a point, but you have to learn to listen to your body’s cues, or you’re going to burn out, make yourself sick, or not do your job well. You need to take the time to reconnect with your creativity and your vision, or all that hard work won’t mean anything. You need balance, or you can’t stay up or stay stable.

Balanced Strength

Adult athletes are careful to work all their muscle groups, not just the ones necessary for their particular sport. Working the whole body reduces the chance of injury and also improves performance overall. After all, we’re not just collections of parts, we’re whole people, so if one area is weak or undeveloped, the whole body will be off a bit. The same goes for other aspects of our being. No matter what kind of work you do, it’s important to develop yourself mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. That’s part of health, happiness, and it’s what has to happen if you’re going to reach your full potential in any aspect of your life.

I Could Go On About Balance

Balance is one of my favorite concepts because it applies to almost everything, to any activity. No matter what your goal, balance will help get you there. So I could keep exploring examples all night, but that wouldn’t be very balanced of me. So I’ll just finish here by saying that whatever you do, enjoy the process. Yes, there may be parts that kind of stink, but if you can hold on to the big picture and maintain your balance, you’ll get through it.

This article about balance was written by Rudy Redmond. Rudy is on the Business Development team at KazCM. The content marketing company inside KazSource.